Malox (Eyal Talmudi, sax, clarinet and pipes, and Aviv Bonen, Drums) is an interesting band from Tel Aviv, Israel. In some folk traditions, a duet of bagpiper and snare drums is quite normal, but in “rock” music this kind of line-up is not normal.

Eyal and Aviv play their own music in which klezmer and Caribbean rythms meet film scores. There is no vocals, but they don’t need them. Their music is intended for dancing and they create atmospheres. My favourite track is the last one, “Sorvant Horo”. Eyal plays the pipes and the tune has a medieval twist. The title of track no. 3 is quite obvious , “Bagpipe Reggae”. It’s a reggae with some dub elements on which the pipes are played instead of the sax or the clarinet. Maybe that’s a distinctive trademark of the band, to use the instrument that normally should not be played on the style they’re playing. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel that on “Polka for Punks”, a klezmer tune, the sax plays the main role.

I have also enjoyed track no. 5, “Hungarian birds”, a song on which I can hear echoes from TV cop series and The Clash from the “Combat Rock” era, together with track no. 2, “Americana”, an instrumental that sounds like the OST from a David Lynch movie. And don’t forget their rendition of the classic “Pop Corn”.

Do you live in Germany? Watch out! These guys are playing at the Jazzhead expo in Bremen next 25th April.